Long Island NY Beaches Open Despite Scars

Seven months after Superstorm Sandy devastated hundreds of miles of shoreline, Long Island NY beaches officially opened this past Memorial Day weekend.

All the repairs are not finished, not all the sand is replaced and not every nearby business has recovered, but after a cleanup effort that cost tens of millions of dollars, visitors from the Rockaways to the Hamptons will be able to enjoy miles of seashores that have been groomed and cleaned up by volunteers and work crews.

Long Island NY Beaches Coming Back

At Rockaway Beach, about half of the 5.5 miles of boardwalk was destroyed by the storm. The city plans on replacing the stretch of boardwalk. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will work all summer to restore 3.6 million cubic yards of sand in a stretch of beach where, at high tide, what last summer was prime real estate for sunbathing is now part of the ocean.

Farther east at Long Beach on Long Island, officials hope a new $44 million boardwalk will be 20 percent constructed by mid-July, though the remainder of the beachfront appears intact, with dozens of volleyball nets arrayed down the beach and lifeguard stands placed high above sand piles.

And on Long Island, state parks officials say Jones Beach and Robert Moses state parks, as well as all the other state park facilities on the island, have reopened after a $90 million repair effort.

Long Island NY beaches are back. As is always the case, devastation from a storm like Sandy forces an area to rebuild, and that usually means better than before. For Long Island NY beaches, this is sure to be the case.